FIG. 1 shows a conventional stacking type connector which comprises a high density (high pin number) D connector 11 on a base 10 and a plurality of audio connectors 12 arranged transversely with respect to the D connector 11. The audio connectors 12 are a plurality of plastic tubes 120 formed by mold injection from the bottom of the base 10 and having different colors for identification. A plurality of grooves 101 are arranged at one end of the base 10 and in front of the conductive terminal 100. The grooves 101 are connected with the dents 102 on bottom side of the plastic tubes 120 and each contains a ground plate 121. The ground plate 121 is of U shape and has one end being pressed to form a -shaped elastic plate 122 and another end extending to form an L-shape contact plate 123. The elastic plate 122 projects into the dent 102 and the contact plate 123 is in spot-contact with the ground terminal 103 when the ground plate 121 is placed within the groove 101.
However, the above-mentioned connector structure has following drawbacks.
First, the ground plate 121 is in contact to the narrow ground terminal 103 with the narrow contact plate 123 thereof in a spot-contact fashion. The contact area therebetween is too small and the problem of poor contact is wont to occur. For example, the ground plate 121 may be obliquely arranged within the groove 101 because there is no suitable guiding means within the groove 101 and the ground plate 121 is arranged into the groove simply by pushing. Therefore, the contact plate 123 is hard to substantially contact the ground terminal 103. Otherwise, the contact plate 123 will have poor contact with the ground terminal 103 if the ground terminal 103 is shifted or bent.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the elastic plate 122 of the ground plate 121 is placed within the dent 102 below the plastic tube 120 of the audio connector 12 in order to contact to the case 20. However, the elastic plate 122 is placed within the concave dent 102 and exposes on portion thereof outside the dent 102. Therefore, the elastic plate 122 has only small area of contact with the case 20 and is wont to be buried within the dent 102 caused by the pressing of the case 20 or the elastic deformation thereof. The ground effect is accordingly degraded. Moreover, the elastic plate 122 is permanently arranged adjacent the plastic tube 120, the position thereof is hard to adjust to match the best contact position with the case 20.
Furthermore, the tube 120 of the audio connector 12 are formed integrally with the base 10 by mold injection, thus limit the color selection thereof. This makes the product hard to have plentiful color.
In one aspect of the present invention, the inventive audio connector comprises a metal frame arranged on the mounting hole of the base, a metal pipe riveted to the metal frame, and a ground plate sandwiched therebetween. The ground plate is firmly arranged between the metal pipe and the metal frame. The contact area between the ground plate and the metal frame is increased and the grounding will not be effected by the skewness of the ground plate or the ground terminal.
In another aspect of the present invention, an elastic plate is formed by pressing on one end of the ground plate. The elastic plate can be wholly extruded out of the front surface of the base and has large contact area with the case. Moreover, the ground plate can be rotated with respect to the metal pipe to change the location of the elastic plate such that optimal contact between the elastic plate and the case can be achieved.
In still another aspect of the invention, the surface of the metal pipe is formed with concave and convex rings such that plastic ring with identification color can be arranged thereon according to the practical circuit layout.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which: